Work support



Oct. 9, 1945-.

E A. HOLMGREN WORKSUPPORT Filed Dec. 20, 1944 4 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Eric AHolr'ng/"erz v Patented Oct. 9, 1945 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE WORK snrronr Application December 20, 1944, Serial No. 568,963

18 Claims.

This invention relates to inner forms for supporting shoe uppers in the course of manufacture and is herein illustrated in its application to inner forms constructed and arranged to support prewelt uppers by their welted margins.

In practising the method of making prewelt shoes disclosed in my copending application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 557,999, filed October 10, 1944, I prefer to employ a ma.- ehine for Shaping prewelt uppers off the last such, for example, as the machine illustrated and described in my copending application for United States Letters Patent Seria1 No. 466,975, filed November 26, 1942. Said machine is provided with work supporting means including an inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin. In shaping prewelt uppers over inner forms it is desirable that the welted margin be wiped inwardly over the form to a, predetermined extent and it is an object of the present invention to providean inner form which is constructed and arranged to facilitate the overwiping of the welted margin to the required extent and by so facilitating the overwiping operation to improve the quality of prewelt shoes made on such forms and to increase the production of the machine.

With this object in view the present invention in one aspect thereof comprises an innner form for supporting a prewelt upper by itswelted margin, said form having projecting from its work supporting surface a thin member or fin arranged to provide an abutment for positioning the welted margin of a supported prewelt upper in overwiped position. In the construction herein illustrated said fin also serves as a means for eating a filler on the work supporting surface of said form in predetermined relation to the overwiped welted margin of the upper.

In the machine illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 466,975, above referred to, the inner form is so constructed and arranged as to be reversible for operation on right and left uppers. In its application to such reversible inner forms the present invention contemplates, the provision on each work supporting surface of the form, of means for defining thereon an overwiping area. In the illustrated construction said means is the fin above referred to projecting from the work supporting surface of the form but it is to be understood that it is within the scope of the present invention to provide other suitable means for definingthe overwiping area such, for example, as a land projecting from the central portion of the form and having an edge face which serves to define the limit of the overwiping area. Nu-

merous other means for defining the overwiping area willsuggest themselves to persons skilled in the art. Itwill be understood that when the illustrated fin is employed said fin serves not only to define an overwip-ing area but also a filler receiving area, being the area of the work supporting surface of the form bounded by said fin.

In accordance with themethod disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 557,999, above referred to, a portion or portions of the upper are premolded preparatory to the operation of the machine above'referred ,to. In order to retain unimpaired during the operation of the machine the shape thus imparted to the upper, the present invention contemplates the provision of a suitably shaped retaining means, said retaining means being constructed and arranged to be removably attached to the inner form to permit the substitution of a similar retaining means of adiiferent size or shape. In accordance with a further feature of the invention said retaining means is constructed and arranged to be removably attached to either work supporting surface of an inner form which is reversible for operation on right and left uppers. i

In the drawings there are illustrated two novel forms of members for retaining the premolded shape of a prewelt upper, one of said members being a block constructed and arranged to engage the toe portion only of the upper and the other being a block which engages both the toe portion and the instep of the upper. In each case the toe engaging portion of the block, in accordance with a further feature of the invention, is made symmetrical in shape for operation on both right and left uppers.

In its application to reversible inner forms, the present invention contemplates the provision of a form having an area in its toe portion for mounting a means for retaining the premolded shape of a prewelt upper supported on the inner form,-and characterized by fins projecting from each work supporting surface of said form and arrangedto locate the welted margin of a supported prewelt upper in overwiped position, said fins extending along opposite sides only of said form and not into the area provided for a retaining means. In order to provide for the mounting of the inper form in the machine illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 466,975 above referred to, said inner form is provided with suitable openings determining the orientation of said formon' its supporting means, and in order to provide for the positioning of the block on the about the toe end of the inner form I2 and tending to cause said top portion of the upper to move upwardly toward the bottom surface of the inner form. In order to prevent such movement of the top portion 3a of the upper and to retain the shape which characterized the toe portion of the upper when it was mounted on the inner form, a form or block 32 is removably mounted on the form I2, said block being shaped to fill the space between the bottom of the inner form l2 and the inner surface of the toe portion of the upper. It

. Will be understood that said block 32 is so arnow be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan View illustrating a prewelt upper in overwiped position on work upporting forms including the inner form of the present invention, the outwardly extending portion of the welt being shown supported by wipers;

Fig. 2 is an elevation on a smaller scale than Fig. 1 illustrating the work supporting means of the machine above referred to provided with said inner form, a prewelt upper mounted on said supporting means being shown in section on its longitudinal center line;

Fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating one constructiqnof my novel upper supporting inner form;

Fig. 4 is a section on line IV-IV of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the same plane as Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating one form of the block for retaining the shape of the toe inner form I2 and a heel block M, the outwardly extending portion of the welt being supported by a toe wiper I3, forepart wipers I5, shank wipers l6 and heel wipers I8. Referring to Fig. 2 the inner form I2 is removably mounted on an upright 20. and the heel block I4 is removably mounted on an upright 22 projecting upwardly from a slide 24 mounted on an arm 26 projecting from the base of the uprightg20. The heel block I4 is moved longitudinally of the supported upper relatively to the inner form I 2 by the operation of a hand lever 21 pivotally connected to the free end of an arm 28 pivotally mounted on the slide 24. Downward movement of the hand lever 21 causes movement of the slide 24 to the left as seen in Fig. 2. Further details of the construction and operation of the mechanism mounting the innerform l2 and heel block I4 is contained in my copending application Serial No. 466,975, above referred to. When an upper is to be mounted on the work supports the hand lever 21 is in an elevated position and the form I2 and heel block I4 are in substantially contiguous relation to each other facilitating the mounting of ranged relatively to the inner form that it provides with said inner form a shape substantially similar to the'shape of the toe portion of a last.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4 the illustrated inner form is a wooden plate of substantial thickness having at opposite sides beveled margins 34 providing overwiping areas. Said overwiping areas are bounded by upwardly projecting metallic fins 36 having inwardly extending tabs one of which is identified by the numeral 38. 'A tack 40 is driven through the tab 38 and into the form and like tacks are driven through the other tabs thereby securing each fin 36 in predetermined position along the opposite side portions of the form. At the toe end of the form a wider beveled margin is provided, the bevel terminating at the line 4i as shown in Figs. 3 and '7. The increased bevel at the toe end facilitates the overwiping of uppers having box toes. The fins serve not only to define an overwiping area at opposite sides'of the form and to limit the overwiping movement at the welted margin of the upper but also define a filler receiving area and locate the filler thereon by engagement with its edge face as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Inasmuch as a predetermined area is provided at the toe end of the inner form for receiving the block 32, each of the fins 36 terminates short of said area. As shown in Fig.4 there are four such fins on each inner form, two on the upper surface and two on the lower surface, thus adapting the form to operate by reversal on both right and left uppers. The illustrated inner form is mounted on two headed screws 42 and 44 (Fig. 3) the screw 42 projecting upwardly from theupright 20 (Fig. 2) and the screw 44 projecting upwardly from an arm 46 pivotally mounted between ears 48 projecting from said upright 20. Th heads of the screws '42 and 44 enter suitable holes 50 in the plate and move away from each other to cause tongues (not shown) formed in the plate to underlie the heads of said screws. For mounting the block 32 on the inner form I2 said block has pins 52 (Fig. 6) projecting upwardly fromits fiat upper surface, the exposed portions of said pins being split'and slightly spread for' gripping engagement with bushings 54 mounted in holes projecting through the inner form I2. The illustratedblockiZ'ias shown in Fig. 6, has a toeportion 54 and anins tep portion 56 which, as shown in Fig.. 3, is made relatively narrow to permit it to be positioned between the fins 36. r

In Fig. '7 there is illustrated an inner form 62 which is substantially similar to the innerform 12 shown in Fig. 1 but differs therefrom in that the common center line of the two holes 64 which receive the headed screws 42 and 44 is parallel to the common center line of the bushings 66 which receive the split pins 52 in the toe blQck. The parallel arrangement of said common center lines facilitates the drilling'of the holes in the form 52 since it obviates the requirement bfany aces-so? angular adjustment of said common center lines for different types and sizes or forms. 7 1

r in Fig. '8 there is illustrated a modified toe block EB l-iaVi-ng an enlarged toe portion 58- and havingitsrear portion sla-bbed oil along the plane 69ft'o provide a space between that portion of the block and the inner surface of an upper mounted thereon thus to facilitate the removal of the upper from the work supporting members. The enlarged end portion of the toe block 53 terminates in an arc the center of which is in alinement with the centers of the two pins 52' and, consequently, in alin-ernent with the centers of the two bushings 66 when the toe block 53' is mounted on the inner form 62. The arcuate edge of the toe block when mounted on the inner form substantially coincides with an arcuateedge face at the- 'toe end of the inner form and this arrange' nent obtains whichever work supporting surface the block is mounted on. The opposite sides of the enlarged end portion of the toe block 5-3 terminate in plane edge faces 'Hlequally spaced irointhe common center line of the pins 52 and so spaced from said center line that the arcuate edge of the toe block is coextensive with that portion of the edge face at the toe end of the inner form-62 struck from the same center. It has been found that the relatively narrow toe form thus provided efiectively' retains the premolded shape of the toe portion of the upper during the operation of the machine.

' In the operation of the prewelt upper shaping machine illustrated in my copending application Serial NO. 466,975 hereinbefore referred to there is' a tendency for the wipers at the outer side of the shank to overwipe farther than the wipers at theinner side, particularly when the inner side of the shank has a substantial concave curvature. The fins 3-6 on the illustrated inner forms effectively control this tendency, and at the same time they insure that the welted margin at each side of the upper will be overwiped to the full extent of the overwiping margin provided on the form. When the resistance to the overwiping of the upper at opposite sides of the shank is unequal the wiper meeting the lesser resistance will, in most cases, complete its overwiping movement first, and further movement of said wiper thereafter will move the welted margin together with the inner form without further overwiping movement, and this will continue until the welted margin at the opposite side of the upper comes into engagement with the fin 36 at that side of the inner form. Such movement of the inner form, even in extreme cases, is slight, and not sufficient to cause any considerable movement of the members which support the inner form.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, and means on each work supporting surface of said form defining thereon an overwiping area.

2. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, and means on each work supporting surface of said form defining thereon an overwiping area and a filler receiving area.

3. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, means fixed to one work supporting surface of saidformproviding an abutment for positioning the welted margin in overwiped position-thereon, and like means secured tothe other work supporting. surface of. said-form. a i

' 421 An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form-being re-; versible for operation'on right and left uppers, an abutment member fixed to one work supporting surface of said form and arranged toposition the welted margin of a preweltupper in overwiped position onsaid work supporting surface and for positioning a filler on said-work support-- ing surface in predetermined relation to the welt-- ed margin of the upper, and a like abutment member fixedto the other work supporting surface of the form.

5. inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin and a fin, fixed to and projecting from the work supporting surface of said form and arranged toprovide an'abutmerit-for positioning the welted margin of a supported' prewelt upper in overwiped position on said form.

I 6. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, a fin secured to one work supporting surface of said form and arranged toprovide an abutment for positioning the'welted margin of a supported upper in overwiped position on said form and to position a filler on said form in predetermined relation to the welted margin of the upper, and a like fin secured to and similarly arranged on the other work supporting surface of said form.

'Z. inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by-its welted margin, and means for retaining the premoided shape of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said retaining means being constructed and arranged to be removably attached tosaid form. i

8 An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, and means for retaining the premolded shape of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said retaining means being constructed and arranged to be removably attached to either work supporting surface of said form.

9. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, a block for retaining the premolded shape of the toe portion only of a prewelt upper supported on said form, and means for removably attaching said block to said form.

10. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, and a block for retaining the shape of only the toe portion and the instep of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said block being constructed and arranged to be removably attached to said form.

11. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, and a block for retaining the premolded shape of a portion only of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said block being constructed and arranged to be removably attached to either work supporting surface of said inner form.

12. An inner form for supporting a prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, a block for retaining the shape of the toe portion of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said block being constructed and arranged for operation on both right and left uppers within a given ably attaching it to either work'supporting surface-of saidinner form; i g. i

13. An inner form forisupporting a prewelt upper byits weltedmargin, means for supporting saidform, anda blockfor retaining the shape of the toe; portion of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said inner form being characterized by openings determining the orientation of said inner form on its supporting means and by other openings determining the orientation of the block on the inner form, the common'center line of said first-mentioned openings being parallel to thecommonqcenter line of said last-mentioned en 14(An inner form for supportinga prewelt upper by its welted margin, means for supporting said form, and a block for retaining the shape oijthe toe portion of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said inner form being characterized by openings determining the orientation of said inner. form on its supporting means and by other openings determining the orientation of the block on'the inner; form, thecommon center line of said first mentioned openings being parallel to the common center line of said last-mentioned openings, said inner form being further characterized by the construction and arrangement of said first-mentionedo-penings to permit the reversal'or said inner form on its supporting means and by the construction and arrangement of said last-mentioned openings to permit the mounting of said block on either of two opposite surfaces of said form r N 15, Aninner form for supporting a premolded prewelt upper-by its Welted margin, a. fin projeoting from the work supporting surface of said form and arranged to provide an abutment for positioning the welted margin of a supported prewelt upper in overwiped position on said form, and means for retaining the premolded shape of the upper, said retaining means being constructed I 2,386,397, run of sizes, and meansfon said block for removand arranged to be removably mounted on said form. v j 1 16. An inner form for supporting a premolded prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, fins projecting from each work supporting surface of said form and arranged to position the welted margin of asupported prewelt upper in overwip ed position on said form, and a block for retaining the premolded shape of a portion only of a prewelt upper supported on said form, said;,block being constructedand arranged to be removably mounted on either work supporting surfaceof said form.

17. ;An inner form for supporting a premolded prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, a block for retaining the premolded shape of the toe portion only of a prewelt upper supported on said form, means .for removably attaching said block to either work supporting surface of said form in a predetermined area thereon andfins projecting from each work supportingsurface'of said form and arranged to position the welted margin of a supported prewelt upper in oyerwiped position on saidform, said fins extending along opposite sides only and not into the area whereon the block is mounted.

' 18. An inner, form for supporting a premolded prewelt upper by its welted margin, said form being reversible for operation on right and left uppers, said form having an area in its toe portion for mounting a meansfor retaining the premolded shape of a prewelt upper supported on the form, said form being characterized by fins projecting from each work supporting surface and arranged to locate the welted margin of a supported prewelt upper in overwiped position, said fins extending along opposite sides only of said form and not into the area provided for the retaining means. i 7

ERIC A. HOLMGREN. 

